One of the first projects we tackled in the very early stages of outfitting our boat for cruising was to add folding propellors to our sailing catamaran. Now, after nearly 45,000 nm of total sailing – including a world circumnavigation – here’s our thoughts on folding propellers, and more specifically, our Flexofold propellers. What are…
When we got our boat from the factory, we had ordered it with a square-top mainsail. Square-top versus Pinhead The “standard” sail in a pinhead sail, which is shaped like a triangle. A square-top sail is a trapezoid shape. The foot is wide and has a 90-degree angle on the front corner. The head is…
Time keeps ticking away and we slowly get closer to when Starry Horizons will be in the water. We hit a big milestone this past week as we submitted our final list of options we want from the factory. The amount of time we’ve had since Annapolis has been both an exercise in patience and beneficial as it’s…
The dingy and its outboard engine are a vital part of the cruising life, shuttling us to and from the shore, to other boats, and carrying all manner of items for us, from groceries to scuba/snorkel gear etc. Choosing the right combination has taken a lot of time and research. Here’s the thought process that went into…
While in the planning process of outfitting a blue water catamaran, we knew that it would be a multi-step process. One of the most important steps that we took was to install a reverse osmosis watermaker. We picked a Cruise RO watermaker, and five years later, we are still incredibly glad we have it. Why…
Electricity. It’s something we use every day, but it’s always been one of those mysteries of the world to me. Volts, watts, hertz/frequency and many other terms all seem like they’re from a foreign language. Sure, I took physics in high school and can barely remember diagramming out various circuits and doing some calculations, but that…
One of the things that was quickly apparent to us when we were checking out the Helia at the Annapolis boat show was that the factory trampoline was not going to be suitable for us. The trampoline was essentially a large, open net and quite “stretchy”, for lack of a better word, which meant it…
Figuring out what kind of sails your boat needs is not always a straight-forward and simple question. All sailboats need sails, right? But each sailboat may have a different set of needs. Most cruising boats come standard with a small headsail and a mainsail. The cruising route of 95% of circumnavigators is a downwind trade…